


Jamie is Missing

by Gothic_Gay



Series: TFTGS fics [2]
Category: Tales from the Gas Station
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:02:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22518190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gothic_Gay/pseuds/Gothic_Gay
Summary: James Riggin has been out of town for a few months staying at his uncles shitty apartment. It's been four days since he last heard from Eric, and he's getting worried. So Jamie makes the trip back to town to find his uncle when he runs into an unlikely friend, who is also looking for someone important. Together these kids run around town, causing havoc and trying to uncover secrets.
Series: TFTGS fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1620178
Kudos: 6





	1. Jamie goes back to town

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of the first tftgs fic, Hidden Demons, I put up. So it has the same OCs, just a different focus. Hopefully you enjoy. Thank you for reading :)

The clock was ticking and Jamie knew he didn’t have a lot of time. It’s been four days since he last heard from Eric. He knew the plan, if he doesn’t hear from Eric in three days then call the numbers on the emergency list, but he didn’t. Jamie sat at the table and went over the new plan he quickly came up with. Get to town and find Eric. It wasn’t much of a plan, but he didn’t really have much time.

About three years ago, his dad passed away. A little while later, his mom got taken to the mental hospital, leaving him and his older sister Vanessa. Everything was good for a little bit after that, Vanessa was really laid back and they did whatever they wanted. Until they got letters about bills, so Vanessa went to go get a job. Jamie didn’t know much but it was at the shitty gas station on the edge of town. Then everything went to shit, Vanessa went missing.

Jamie lived by himself for a bit until he called his Uncle Eric, who lived in New Orleans. Eric was a private investigator, the perfect person to help after the cops showed they wouldn’t do anything. After about three days where Eric came back to town, he got Jamie out of there. They stayed in Eric’s apartment for a few months, then Eric went back to find Vanessa. Now Eric seems to be missing too, and Jamie was sick of sitting on the sidelines. Eric was all that he had left for family, and he was going to find him.

After a bit, Jamie looked around and nodded to himself. He was really going to do this. Soon enough he had a small bag packed with clothes, some food, all the money that Eric left him and the emergency funds, and the burner phone that he was given. Everything a teenager would need to find a missing family member. And with that he locked the door and ran off to the bus station.

“Hey, uh, I would like a bus ticket. Please,” he said to the lady working at the counter. She looked him up and down and put out her cigarette.

“Seem a little young to be traveling by yourself,” she remarked. Jamie shifted his weight and put the money on the counter. “Where you heading?” Jamie told her and she printed him off a ticket. “The next bus is in about 20 minutes, and it’s a few hours to get there. The stop is over there. Safe travels.”

“Thanks,” Jamie said with a small nod and walked off. He sat down in the waiting area and looked at his phone. No new calls or texts. Jamie sighed and looked around the terminal, not a lot of people seem to be waiting for this bus. Not surprising, it’s a shitty town. Jamie didn’t realize how shitty it was until Eric got him out of there, then again where he was staying now wasn’t much better.

He got on the bus and sat down in one of the seats, it wasn’t that comfortable. Jamie put on his headphones and listened to some music as he stared out the window. At one point he must have fallen asleep because when he looked out the window he could see the farm where Farmer Brown was found dead in the distance. Jamie wasn’t sure what exactly happened, but there was a lot of rumours.

That’s when he noticed his music stopped, he tried to turn on his phone but all he got was a flashing battery symbol. “Shit,” he hissed to himself. Jamie looked around to see if this bus had any charging ports, but of course it didn’t.

\-------------------

“You fucking idiot!” Eric snapped at Spencer. “Do you know how hard it’s going to be for me to get another burner phone in this town?!” Spencer rolled his eyes and kicked the pieces of the phone. “I can’t believe you knocked it off the table, you stupid fuck.”

“I didn’t just knock it off the table! I broke it on purpose,” Spencer lied.

Eric looked up at him with a glare. “Uh huh. And why would you do that?”

“Just to piss you off.”

Kieffer set down his coffee as he added, “once Spencer dropped my phone in a lake. He said he did it on purpose but I know it’s because he’s clumsy. You’re clumsy, Spencer.”

“I am not!” Spencer yelled at him.

“Klutz,” Kieffer whispered.

Spencer and Kieffer continued to bicker as Eric groaned and ran his hand through his hair. “I already missed the 72 hour mark to call Jamie, because of those fucking Juggernauts. Can you get them to stop going after me?!” Spencer rolled his eyes again. “Now I can’t even check in with him or any of the contacts.”

“Why don’t you use Spencer’s phone?” Kieffer offered. Spencer gave an ice cold laugh at the idea. “Remember the time we went boating and you got sick, threw up and got a really bad sunburn?” That shut Spencer up.

Eric shook his head and started to head out. He got in his car and started to drive off, he hit the brakes when a kid on a skateboard sped across the street. “Watch it!” Eric yelled out the window.

The kid looked over his shoulder, sunglasses covering his eyes. “Fuck off!” The kid yelled back. Eric grumbled under his breath, he looked in the rearview mirror to find the kid standing there and watching him drive off. He kept an eye out for anyone following him as he went looking for the only cop he could trust.

Pulling into the parking lot he found O’Brien starting to get into her cruiser. Eric quickly glanced around as he walked over to her. “Hey. Can I ask for a favour?” 

“Are you serious?” she asked and raised an eyebrow. “Remember the last time you asked for a favour?”

“Please. I just need a phone to call Jamie, he’s going to be worried sick. I can’t trust any of the payphones or anyone else with this.” O’Brien furrowed her brows as she quickly thought it over, she then sighed and reached for her cell. “Thank you.”

“I’m doing this for the kid, alright? One call. That’s it. What happened to your phone?”

“It broke,” he grumbled as he dialed the burner. It went straight to voicemail and Erics heart dropped. “Hey Kiddo, it’s me. My phone is currently dead and done, but I’m working on getting a new one. I’ll call once I get the new one. Stay safe.” Eric hung up and handed O’Brien back her phone. “Voicemail,” he sighed. He had a bad feeling but tried to remind himself about the plan and that Jamie is a smart kid.

“He’s a kid, and a smart one at that, probably out blowing off some steam. He’s fine,” she offered. Eric nodded and they parted ways. 

‘ _He’s fine_ ,’ Eric thought to himself, despite his gut telling him different. His gut was rarely wrong about these kind of things.

\----------------

Jamie walked through the streets of the town he left behind. It was weird to say the least. He decided to make a quick detour to get something to eat, he didn’t have a lot left after getting the bus ticket but he was pretty hungry. As he walked into the Starbucks he almost ran into another person. “Oh, sorry!”

The man looked down at Jamie through his sunglasses and brushed his hair to the side. “Don’t worry about it, just be careful.” Jamie watched as the man walked away, wondering if was humanly possible for someone to be that attractive. Then noted that he must be pretty new to the town since no one around here dresses that nice.

After ordering an everything bagel and a hot coffee to keep him awake, Jamie was back to walking home. He rounded the corner and did run into another person this time. Both of them fell back and the other persons skateboard rolled down the sidewalk. Jamie felt a little proud that he was able to save both his food and his drink. “Hey, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about running into you, I got distracted,” the other kid mumbled as he stood up and fixed his sunglasses. “Here,” he said and helped Jamie up. Jamie looked him up and down, he never saw this kid before, and he knows everyone at school. It’s a small town.

“Are you new? I haven’t seen you at school before,” Jamie mused as he watched the other grab the skateboard. “Cool jacket by the way.”

“Thanks! Uh, yeah I just… moved here yesterday.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yup, I’m moving to this place. School starts tomorrow, right?” 

“Tomorrow is Saturday,” Jamie remarked and gave a sarcastic smile. “Where did you move from that has school on Saturday? That would suck.”

“Oh, uh, you know, not America.” Jamie gave a sarcastic laugh. “Uh, I’m Azazel! It’s nice to meet someone my age for once,” Azazel said and excitedly held his hand out.

“I’m James.” He shook Azazel's hand and narrowed his eyes, something felt a little off but couldn’t quite place what it was. “Well, see you around and whatnot,” Jamie said with a small nod and started to leave. Azazel watched him walk away and shuffled his feet slightly.

He started to cross the street when a car horn blared at him. Aggie Sistrunk was in the middle of lighting a cigarette as she sped up and was coming very close to hitting Jamie. He stared at the car and he froze up, until he felt a hand grab his arm. “Dude! You have to be careful! She’s almost hit me like five times since I got here.”

Jamie looked around to find them on the other side of the street. “WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING, YOU STUPID KIDS!” Aggie yelled as she sped past them. 

“H-How?” Jamie stuttered as he spun around. “I was there, you were over there,” Jamie pointed to where they were. “Now we’re here?”

“Yeah, we’re over here now. Can I ask a question?” Azazel asked. Jamie nodded, still baffled on what was happening. “You said your name is James. As in plural? So is there more of you?”

“No? That’s… That’s just my name.” Azazel gave a small nod yet still seemed a little confused. “I mean, what about your name? I’ve never heard anyone with that name before.”

“That’s just who I’m supposed to be,” Azazel shrugged. Jamie nodded yet didn’t get what that meant. “Anyways... I’ll see you around,” he said and put his skateboard down. 

Azazel started to leave and Jamie realized he really didn’t want to be alone. He was tired of being alone and being alone in this town is the worst. “Wait!” Azazel stopped and looked back, waiting for Jamie to continue. “Are you busy? If not, I could show you a bit around town. You said you just moved here yesterday.” A smile broke out on Azazel’s face and he quickly spun his skateboard around and rode up next to Jamie.

They walked together and Jamie pointed out a few places. Where to get the best pizza, where the best stores were, and where the skate park was. The last one caught Azazel's attention.

“Hey, dude, you look a little nervous,” Azazel pointed out and looked up at Jamie. He was nervous, it was the first time he was heading back to his house in a few months. He wasn’t sure what to expect. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” he lied. It was clear that Azazel wasn’t buying it, he frowned and stopped walking. “Lets keep going, it’d be better to get inside. I’m heading home, where’s your house?”

“Uh, way back that way,” Azazel said a bit to quickly. “Near the run down building, with all the trees.” Jamie gave him a side glance, there wasn’t any houses near the gas station.

In a few minutes, they were standing in front of Jamie’s house. He was a little surprised to find it still empty after all these months, part of him thought it would be sold off. Jamie tried to open the door, but it was locked, he fished out his keys and found that it worked. Nothing changed since he left and came back. He slowly opened the door and looked in.

“Hello? Eric?” Jamie called out. It was wishful thinking that Eric would be here, and he got no response. He stepped in and nothing felt right, the house was clean. Way too clean. There wasn’t even a small build up of dust. After putting his bag down, Jamie did a quick run through of the house to see if there was any sign of Eric. Azazel walked in after him and closed the door. “He’s not here,” Jamie mumbled, almost feeling defeated.

“Who’s not here?” Azazel asked as he propped his skateboard against the wall. The weird symbols on the bottom of the board caught Jamie’s eye.

“... My uncle,” he started. He wasn’t sure what he could tell Azazel. There was something off about him, yet Jamie was glad he wasn’t alone. “... I haven’t heard from him in a while, so I’m trying to find him.”

“I’m trying to find someone too!” Azazel exclaimed. “He’s not really my uncle but he’s a distant family member. I’m hoping he takes me in.” 

Jamie eyed Azazel and crossed his arms. “I thought you said you already moved to this town. But there’s no houses near the gas station and now you’re looking for someone to take you in?” Azazel shuffled slightly. “I don’t really know you, but I can tell you’re a bad liar.”

“You’re a bad liar too,” Azazel mumbled. Jamie pulled his lips into a tight line. “Okay, okay! I did get to this town yesterday, but I’m on my own right now alright? Trying to find him is harder than last time I was here, he’s gotten way more careful.”

“You’re on your own and looking for someone? That makes two of us,” Jamie sighed, and was slightly surprised how easy it was to get Azazel to tell the truth. “Wait, where have you been staying?”

“...I made a makeshift place in the woods…”

“That’s actually kind of cool,” Jamie nodded. “But I’ve heard really weird things happen in those woods…” Jamie eyed Azazel again and tapped his fingers on his arm, then looked around the living room. He was going to be staying at his house again, but he couldn’t be alone here. Not again. “... Do you want to stay the night?”

Azazel beamed and grinned. “Yeah! I mean, sure.” He cleared his throat and awkwardly walked further into the house. “Hey, do you want help finding your uncle?” Jamie turned, looking caught off guard. “I can help… If you want.”

“It’s getting late, why don’t we order pizza or something? We can start looking in the morning. We’ll look for Eric and whoever you’re looking for. But first we have to close all the blinds and make sure everything is locked.” 

The two of them went around the house checking locks and closing curtains. Jamie discovered that the power still worked. It didn’t feel right, they weren’t paying the bills. ‘ _So who is?_ ’ Jamie wondered. They sat in the living room and feasted on pizza and drank soda. “And that’s what he looks like. He’s actually shorter than me, which is kind of funny.” 

“Wait a minute, I saw him.” Jamie sat up and put his drink down. “I was in town a few weeks ago, visiting family, and he was there. I never actually spoke to him but he was a lot more calm than the other guy that was there. And I saw him today, I sped out in front of his car, it took me a second to recognize him.”

“So he’s alive,” Jamie whispered with hope. “And for some reason he knows the guy you’re looking for-”

“His name is Cyril. He’s stupidly tall with long hair.”

“He knows Cyril. We find Eric and we find Cyril, or the other way around,” Jamie nodded. Azazel smiled and nodded in return. He was still wearing his sunglasses, which Jamie didn’t completely understand why he would wear sunglasses indoors at night but whatever. “We just need a place to start looking.”

“Well, where’s some places he goes too?”

“Hm, he hasn’t told me much,” Jamie grumbled. “But I know he’s been at the gas station a few times. We can start there.”


	2. The Gas Station Trip

Stumbling out of bed, Jamie rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned. He walked out to the living room and found Azazel still sleeping on the couch. “Hey,” he called out. Azazel groaned as he lazily reached for his sunglasses. “Good morning. You want something to eat?” Jamie asked as he went to the kitchen. He then remembered that there was no food in the house and they ate all the pizza. “Uh, actually never mind.”

“It’s cool. I’ll just eat one of the cans,” Azazel shrugged and reached for one of the empty cans of soda. Jamie walked back into the living room with a confused look. “What?”

“You’re going to… eat a metal can?” Jamie asked unsure if he heard it right. “Don’t do that.” Azazel frowned and looked back at the cans. “Don’t.” Azazel slowly picked up a can as he stared Jamie down. “Dude, don’t eat it! What the hell. We’ll grab some food later, we’re going to the gas station anyways.”

“... Alright, fine,” Azazel grumbled and put the can back down. “When are we heading out?” he asked and stretched as he stood up. Jamie thought about it and peeked through the curtains. “Hey James, where’s, like, your parents?”

Jamie hesitated before he answered. “It’s kind of a long story. We should get going, it’s a bit of a long walk from here to the gas station.” Azazel nodded and decided not to press the matter further. Jamie left to get dressed, and Azazel snuck a bite of a can before he came back. “Let’s go.”

The two of them left after Jamie locked the door and they headed for the gas station. They walked in silence for a bit, both of them a little unsure on what to talk about. Jamie was still wondering if he should even be trusting Azazel. He didn’t know him, and there was something off about him. Should he even be dragging some stranger into his family mess?

“Have you been to the gas station?” Jamie asked as they crossed the street. They kept an eye out for Aggie Sistrunks jeep, they learned their lesson pretty quickly.

“Nope, but I’ve seen it. I get bad vibes from the place, but the woods vibes aren’t much better. At least I understand the woods. Why?” Azazel asked.

“Alright, I understood none of that. But yeah I guess the vibes there are pretty off. My sister used to work there, but she never told me much.” Azazel gave him a side glance. “I’ve never really gone there, there’s a lot of rumours about the place and the woods around it… Why are you staying in the woods? I know you said you’re looking for a distant family member-”

“It’s a long story,” Azazel said a little too quickly. Jamie looked down at him, feeling a little concerned but didn’t press any further.

They walked in silence again. At one point Jamie checked his phone and realized he had a voicemail. He stopped in his tracks and listened to it right away. It was Eric. Listening to Erics voicemail gave him a sense of relief, but it still didn’t tell him where he was or if he was truly okay.

“Shit, how much longer is it to get there?” Jamie complained a little while later. “We’ve been walking forever, and it’s so hot today too. Couldn’t there be a breeze or something? Don’t you find it warm? You’re dressed in all black for Gods sake. The south is so hot.”

“I’ve been in hotter places, so this is fine to me. It’s about another thirty minutes that way,” he pointed down the road. Azazel then gently waved his hand back and forth at his side to conjure a light cool breeze around them. “Oh hey, there’s a nice breeze now.” Jamie narrowed his eyes and looked around. “... What?”

“There’s something weird happening in this town…” Jamie mumbled. Azazel felt a little nervous and wondered if Jamie was on to him. “Let’s keep going,” he sighed and kept walking.

Eventually they were standing in front of the small parking lot of the shitty gas station on the edge of town. Azazel gulped, the energy of this place felt weird. He couldn’t place if it was good, bad, or in between. “Null.”

“What?” Jamie asked and looked down at him again.

“Null,” Azazel stated again. “This place is Null! There’s no binding it.” He started to walk toward the gas station and Jamie quickly followed behind. The moment they stepped onto the property Azazel froze. “Whoa. I can feel, like, all the energy in this town. I can see it. It’s Null, yet so full of energy. There’s so much here. It doesn’t make sense but it does!”

Jamie watched in confusion as Azazel waved his hands through the air as if he was feeling something in front of him. “What are you doing?” Azazel slowly turned to look at him over his shoulder. “Dude, you’re freaking me out a bit. What the hell are you doing?”

“It’s alive, and it’s showing me so much. There’s so much energy in this town.” Without giving any explanation that made sense, Azazel then went to walk into the gas station. Jamie hurried in behind and looked around.

The cashier, who looked like he needed a nap, was sitting behind the counter reading a book, while another employee stocked shelves as she hummed an upbeat tune to herself. There was a man sitting at the booth in a plain white shirt that said ‘JERRY?’ None of them really looked up as the two kids entered. 

After taking a deep breath and watching Azazel excitedly look at everything, Jamie walked up to the counter and cleared his throat. “Hey, did you know Vanessa?”

\-----------

Spencer practically barged into Cyrils house and shut the door behind him. He walked into the living room to find Silvia lounging on the couch and talking into a headset as she played a videogame. “Hey. Where’s Cyril?”

“You know there’s something called knocking on the door. I heard it’s super polite to do. Hold on, Kieffer there’s a creeper coming up behind you. Kieffer! Look out! And he’s dead…” she mumbled into the headset. “He’s downstairs. I think he’s sick, which is super weird. Demons don’t get ‘sick,’” she said and made quotation marks in the air.

“What do you mean he’s ‘sick’?” he asked and did quotation marks in return. Spencer looked at the open box of Oreos on the table. “Toss me a few of those.”

Silvia shrugged and tossed him some cookies. “Just a few minutes ago he was fine, then he said something about a headache. He’s not sick like how we get sick. Mumbled something about the energy in town and went to lie down.” Spencer frowned and went to find Cyril.

“Hey,” Spencer whispered as he knocked on the open door. Cyril looked up at him from under a pile of blankets and gave a small smile. “What the fuck is going on?” he asked as he sat down on the bed. Spencer wrapped an arm around Cyrils shoulders and pulled him closer.

“Hey,” Cyril mumbled back as he rested his head against Spencers chest. “The energy in town is just extremely intense. I can feel it, which usually I can just sense the energy of people close to me. Like you. This is something else,” he sighed. “How’s your day so far?”

He shrugged. “It's been alright. Eric got a new phone number so now I have to go and change everything in his contact. Such a pain in the ass. Maybe if he wasn’t so stupid he wouldn’t have broken his other one.”

“Kieffer sent me a text yesterday about how you were the one who broke it,” Cyril chuckled. “You can be so clumsy sometimes.” Spencer frowned and grumbled underneath his breath. Suddenly Cyrils phone rang, the noise caused him to wince. “Fuck, who’s calling?”

“It’s Benjamin,” Spencer growled. “Why is he calling you? I’m going to answer it.” Cyril quickly snatched his phone away and shook his head. “Hey!”

Cyril answered the phone and laid back on Spencers chest. “Hello, it’s been quite sometime since I heard from you.” Spencer listened in, ready to tell Ben to fuck off when needed. “How have you been-”

“Status report,” Ben barked over the phone. Cyril winced again. “I’m getting readings that there’s something going on over there and I can’t reach my other informats at the gas station. Line’s dead.”

“There’s something that’s causing the energy to go insane. I don’t know what it is but it’s making my head hurt, so if you would stop yelling into the phone that would be great.” Spencer snickered at Cyrils remarks.

Ben hummed over the phone as he thought it over. “Could it be a demon?”

“I haven’t met or heard of any demon that can heighten this range of energy to this extreme.”

“Celestial?”

“Ugh, I hope not,” Cyril grumbled and made a face. He looked up at Spencer and smirked. “Hey, do you happen to know someone named Spencer Middleton?” 

“What?!” Ben snapped. “Listen, that no good son of a bitch seems to be some type of demon hunter now. He use to work for The Dark God and moved on to something worse. He should have stayed dead. Stay away from him! Got it?” Spencer narrowed his eyes and snatched the phone back, Cyril gave a yell but Spencer quickly covered his mouth. “What was that?”

“Hey Ben,” Spencer said calmly into the phone. “How’ve you been lately?” He rolled his eyes as Ben yelled at him over the phone. “Oh, Cyril? Yeah, he’s fine. Don’t worry, I’m taking good care of him.” Spencer knew he was freaking Ben out and held back a laugh. “So stop fucking calling and stay the fuck away from here!” 

He hung up before Ben could say anything else. The two of them sat there on the bed laughing at the whole situation.

Eric barged into the house and marched into the living room. Silvia looked up with a confused look and slid the box of Oreos towards him. “Where’s Spencer?!”

“Do you two just don’t knock on front doors anymore? What the hell. He’s downstairs with Cyril. I don’t know if I would go down there, you know with them being alone and all that. Don’t traumatize yourself with walking in on them, it sucks... You look really freaked out what’s going on? Are you okay?” Eric paced in the living room and ran a hand through his hair. “Alright, sit down and take a deep breath. What’s going on?”

“Jamie is missing,” he said in a panic. Silvia raised an eyebrow and gave a small shrug. “My nephew, I thought I got him out of this town. I thought I had him safe! But his phone goes to voicemail and I just got off the phone with a friend and he’s not at my place.” Eric sat down and tapped his foot. “He’s missing, I should have been there for him.”

Silvia moved to sit beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. In that moment Eric told her everything. About Vanessa, about the hell he’s gone through to find her and support Jamie, about how Spencer knows something but won’t tell him anything, about the guy in the bear suit. Eric finally took a deep breath after getting all that out in one rush and looked at her as he held back tears. She stared back at him with wide eyes.

“You don’t believe me.”

“Dude, my best friend is a purple scaled demon from Hell who’s dating a psycho. My ex is a crazy bitch who is a pink scaled demon from Hell that occasionally screams fire at people when she’s mad. I believe you. It’s just shit’s fucked.” Her phone rang and she picked up. “Oh, hey Ben! Uh huh… Uh huh… Look I’m sorry that I have to be the one to tell you this, but those two idiots are dating. Yeah, I know. I know. I’ll call you back.” Silvia hung up and turned back to Eric. “Anything you need to help find these kids, I’m here to help out. And Cyril, I can force him to help.”

Eric gave a small sigh and chuckled softly. Spencer came around the corner and stopped, looking at Eric in confusion. “What the fuck do you know about Jamie?! The fuck did you do?!” Eric yelled as he stood up and jabbed a finger at a very confused and angry Spencer.

\----------

“Hey. Did you know Vanessa?” Jamie asked. Jack blinked and closed his book. The kid in front of him stuck him to look familiar. Jack and Jerry exchanged a very quick glance and looked back at the kid. “Uh, hello?”

“Hello,” Jack said then remembered the kid asked a question. “Yeah, she used to work here. She was pretty laid back and did a pretty good job around here.”

“Okay, what about a guy named Eric? Do you know someone named Eric?”

“The detective? I don’t really know him but he’s come in here a few times… Are you gonna buy something?” Jack asked. Jamie looked around at the snack aisles and his stomach growled. He quickly counted his money and frowned. Jack narrowed his eyes as he tried to place what was so familiar about this kid.

Jerry connected the dots a little bit before Jack and they locked eyes for a second. “Why are you asking about Van?” Jerry asked and sat up a bit. “Are you a cop?” Jamie turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “How do we know we can trust you?”

“I…” Jamie stammered a bit. “I’m looking for them. Vanessa and Eric. I’m Vanessas brother… James Riggin.” Jerry stood up and walked past him.

“I’m really sorry to hear about your sister,” Rosa started. “I didn’t know her, but from what I heard she was a great person.” Jamie shifted his weight and gave a small smile.

“Thanks… Yeah, she was pretty cool… Did Eric come here recently?” 

Jack opened his mouth then closed it again. He really didn’t know what to do in this situation. “No, sorry.” Jamie clicked his tongue and sighed. He checked his phone and found he had no signal.

Jerry walked up to Jamie with an armload of different snacks and dumped them into Jamie's arms. “Here, it’s on the house,” he said with a smile. Rosa and Jack didn’t say anything about it but quickly thought about how to cover the costs. “And you over there,” he called out to Azazel. “I like your Ghost patches, it's a good band. And the patch on your back is really cool.”

Azazel looked at the blue, pink and white flag he had on his back and smiled. “Thanks! Hey, how much for these little guys here?” he asked and held up a gnome. Rosa turned to answer him, when she looked at him her smile fell. She took a sharp inhale as her eyes turned white.

“ **YOU SHOULDN’T BE HERE!** ”

“What’s happening?!” Jamie asked as he back pedaled away from her. He didn’t know what was more shocking, that she was floating or that Azazel was completely unfazed. Jerry grabbed a hold of her wrist to keep her in one spot and hummed.

“It’s okay, it happens,” Jack casually shrugged. “You just have to let it pass, or get her with a taser. We don’t have a taser now so we need to let it pass.”

“ **DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOUR PRESENCE IS DOING TO THIS PLACE? YOU NEED TO LEAVE. FOR YOUR SAFETY AND FOR THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU,** ” Rosa boomed. Even though her voice was booming, she sounded concerned. Azazel sputtered out a small laugh and shook his head.

“Look. The last time I listened to a floating lady, she was trying to scam me.”

“ **YOU NEED TO LISTEN-** ”

“No thanks.”

“ **AZAZEL!** ” Rosa snapped. He frowned and put down the gnome. “ **YOU HAVE TRIED TO GO INTO HIDING. BUT YOUR PRESENCE IS NOW KNOWN. YOU ARE BEING HUNTED! THEY HAVE ALREADY SENT SOMEONE TO COME TAKE YOU BACK.** ” 

“Yo, Rosa chill. I think you’re starting to really freak them out,” Jerry whispered.

“ **YOU ARE BOTH IN DANGER! ASKING QUESTIONS IN THIS TOWN IS FROWNED UPON. YOU HAVE CAUGHT THEIR ATTENTION, JAMES**.” Jamie and Azazel looked at each other, both looking equally freaked out. “ **PLEASE, YOU NEED TO LEAVE. YOU BOTH WILL BE HARDER TO HUNT ONCE YOU ARE OFF THESE GROUNDS!** ”

Jack poked her with his crutch. “Okay, please stop shouting cryptic warnings or whatever you do when you sleep-float.” She then dropped to the floor, Jerry caught her before she hit her head. “Thanks for stopping that… Are you guys alright?” Jamie started to shove the snacks that Jerry gave him into his bag as Azazel ran over to him.

“Dude we gotta go,” Azazel urged. “For once I don’t think a floating lady was scamming me.”

“What the fuck was that?!” Jamie yelled at no one in particular. Jerry put Rosa in the booth and started to walk back over to the kids. “I’m finding Eric and then getting the fuck out of this town,” he grumbled and started to rush towards the door.

The door opened as O’Brien walked in. She locked eyes with Jamie and stopped in her tracks, then noticed that the two kids in front of her looked panicked and on edge. “James? What the hell are you doing here? What’s going on?” Jamie took a deep breath and grabbed Azazels arm, they ducked past her and ran out the door. “Wait!”

“ _Shit_! James, uh, Azazel! I think that's your name... Wait up!” Jerry called out and ran after them. O’Brien chased after them, leaving Jack to take care of Rosa. 

With a groan, Rosa sat up and looked around. “Where did everyone go?” she asked as she rubbed her eyes.

“Okay, before I tell you, you have to promise not to feel bad.” Jack told her and Rosa felt really bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like floating Rosa. I actually headcannon that it's the gas station talking through her.


	3. Jamie Has Had Enough Of The Bullshit

Jamie held a firm grip on Azazels arm as they ran across the parking lot. He looked over his shoulder to find the man with the ‘JERRY?’ shirt rushing out after them with O’Brien following behind him. “Where are we going?” Azazel asked.

“I don’t know, but away from here,” Jamie answered. Azazel looked behind him and saw that the two adults were a lot faster than them. They were going to catch up soon.

“The city guard knows you. Can we trust her?”

“It’s been awhile since I saw her, I don’t know if she’s still trustworthy.” Azazel furrowed his eyebrows and pulled himself away from Jamies grip. “Dude, what?” Without explaining, Azazel grabbed Jamies hand and took off towards the woods. “I don’t want to be near the gas station but I don’t think the woods are any better!”

“My place is safe, don’t worry,” Azazel assured. Jamie looked at the woods, it seemed dense and dark. They ran into the woods and lost sight of the others. 

Jerry and O’Brien stopped at the edge and cursed. “We can’t let them go in there alone!” Jerry panicked. “They’re just kids… I owe it to Vanessa to make sure James is alright.” O’Brien grabbed him before he could go into the woods.

“I can’t have you go missing as well. Jerry, I know you care a lot, but you can’t risk yourself. Let’s get back to the gas station, I need to know what happened and why they were so on edge.” Jerry looked at her, looked at the woods and slowly nodded and they headed back. 

Once she learned everything she sighed and put in a call. Thankfully, Eric picked up. “Hello?” he answered, sounding out of breath.

“Hey, you alright? Did you get in another fight or something?” O’Brien joked trying to lighten the mood before she told him why she was calling.

Eric looked over at Spencer, who was being held back by Silvia. Maybe accusing him and trying to fight him was a bad idea. “Yeah, something like that. Why are you calling? You never call me.”

“... Have you tried to call James recently?” Erics mind raced with different reasons why she would ask that. “Eric, are you there?”

“Yeah, but it went to voicemail... Again. Why?” Eric asked and wiped the blood from his busted lip. He watched as Cyril, who looked very irritated, came around the corner and tried to calm Spencer down. “Amy, why are you asking?” he pressed.

“I got some good news and bad news,” she started. “I saw James-”

“What do you mean you saw Jamie?” Eric barked. Everyone else in the house went quiet. “If that’s the good news, then what’s the bad news?” His mind thought of the worst case scenario.

“He was at the gas station, which I think that’s why he didn’t get your most recent call. The bad news is that he and his friend took off into the woods.” Erics heart almost stopped. “I’m sorry, I lost sight of them. I called you right-” There was a sound of static that cut her off then a dial tone.

Eric stared at his phone for a second before he hung up and turned to Spencer. “Why is Jamie in town? How the fuck did he get here?!”

“How the fuck should I know?” Spencer shot back. Eric clenched his jaw and went for a right hook, hoping that unlike the past, he might actually land a punch. Spencer easily dodged and landed a blow to Erics face. “You stupid fuck!”

Spencer got ready to land another blow when he got tackled by Silvia. She quickly twisted his arm behind his back, and dug her knee into his lower back as she pinned him to the floor. He yelled at her to get off while Cyril healed Eric with a look of annoyance. “Are you idiots going to chill the fuck out?”

“That was actually a really good tackle, where did you learn that from?” Spencer grumbled and dusted himself off.

“Remember when I told you I grew up on a farm? Yeah, one of my main jobs was to tackle the pigs and goats if they got free and angry. You’re no different,” Silvia stated with a smirk. Spencer glared down at her before getting ready to head out. Eric was already on his way out the door

“You can’t stop me from going to get Jamie,” Eric growled as he headed to his car. Spencer rolled his eyes and chuckled at the way Eric was acting. “I’m fucking serious. I’m not falling for your bullshit.”

“I told you that I would never lie to you, because the truth is so much worse. Truth is, I don’t know shit about whatever your kid is doing or where he is. I’m not involved in this, someone else is. Maybe if you’re lucky, that someone is even worse than me,” Spencer sneered. Eric glared at him before he said something he would most likely regret later on. 

“Prove it.”

“Huh?”

“Prove. It.” Eric growled through clenched teeth. He couldn’t believe he was saying this, but his thoughts were all about finding Jamie as soon as possible and keeping him safe. “Help me find Jamie, and I’ll stop bitching at you. Hell, I’ll even owe you one. Once we find him, safe and kept safe, I’ll owe you big time. Rip out another tooth or cut off a finger. You name it. But after we find him and keep him safe.”

After thinking it over, Spencer smirked to himself and cackled. “Yeah, alright. It’s a fucking deal. But you better be ready to pay up, it’s not going to be cheap. Fuck it, I’ll even drive us there. Cops know better than to pull me over.”

Eric was already starting to regret it when he got into the passenger side of Spencers car. ‘ _The things I am doing for these kids,_ ’ he thought. Eric quickly replaced it with, ‘ _find Jamie, bring him home, keep him safe._ ’

\----------

Jamie stumbled over roots and rocks hidden by the grass, he kept looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was following them. Azazel led the way as if he knew these woods like the back of his hand. “You’ve seriously been staying in this place?”

“Yup, I needed somewhere to stay while I looked for Cyril. My plan was to search and go around town during the day and stay here to rest.”

“I’m not staying in this place at night. I don’t trust this place. And now I really don’t trust the gas station…” Jamie trailed off when they walked into the small clearing.

It didn’t look natural, or man-made. The ground was completely smooth with a small stream running through it. There was a small fire pit next to a tent, a tent made of stone slabs tilted against each other. Jamie carefully stepped over the strange symbols that were carved in the ground that surrounded the edge of the clearing.

“Welcome! We don’t need to stay overnight or anything. Just long enough until we feel it’s safe to head back to your house,” Azazel smiled and sat down next to the fire pit.

“You said you made a place in the woods.” Azazel nodded. “So you did… This?” Jamie asked with a vague wave to everything. Jamie had so many questions but his stomach reminded him of what was important.

They sat and ate the snacks that were given to them on the house. Something about free food just tastes better, even shitty gas station food. Jamie looked around the campsite as Azazel piled their garbage in the fire pit. Nothing made sense here. The stone slabs weren’t placed on the ground, they were coming out of the ground. The stream wasn’t even running water, it was as if the water was placed there. And the carvings made him feel uneasy.

“How?” Jamie whispered. He turned around to find a fire going to burn the garbage, yet to sign of anything that started the fire. “This place is weird. Don’t you find it weird?”

“Well, it’s not exactly like home, but it’s alright.”

“Like home?” Jamie echoed. “What’s home like? I’m sure you’ve seen how shitty my town is like, what about yours?”

Azazel shifted a bit and smiled. “Depends on the area. It’s all so different. Like, my mom lives in a desert, she used to get mad when I would track sand inside. My favourite place to go and explore was the City of Dis. It’s a HUGE city! And there was always something to do. Dem- uh, people would go there a lot. So it’s always crowded, and it was so diverse there…”

“What about your dad? Does he still live with your mom?” Jamie asked.

“... No. He lives on the other side of… the town,” Azazel said, choosing his words carefully. “Let’s just say he lives in a cold place where no one likes to go. Plus it’s always snowing there, which kinda sucks.”

It was obvious that Azazel was uncomfortable with the topic now, Jamie knew how hard it can be to talk about family. But there was one question Jamie had but decided it would be best to ask later. ‘ _If you liked your home so much, why did you run away?_ ’ It was clear that he was a run away, painfully clear. Barely had anything with him, practically living on the streets, and was looking for someone to take him in. The only thing about it is that Jamie couldn’t figure out why.

“Hey, you want to start heading back now?” Jamie asked. “It’s been a little bit, and I would like to go home. Plus your skateboard is back at my house.” They left the campsite, Azazel paused before he stepped over the carvings. A few moments later an awful stench hit them. “Oh god, what the hell is that?”

“I don’t know. It’s worse than death,” Azazel grumbled. They both hurried back through the woods, trying not to gag at the smell. Soon enough they could see the edge of the woods and the road back to town.

As they started to walk back down the road, a black mustang sped past them at an alarming speed. “What an asshole,” Jamie mumbled which caused them both to snicker. The car suddenly hit the brakes and the tires screeched to a stop, both kids froze. “... You don’t think he heard that, do you?” Azazel shrugged and made a small ‘ _I don’t know_ ' sound.

Relief washed over Jamie when Eric stepped out of the passenger side. Then confusion and slight anger washed over him when Spencer Middleton stepped out of the drivers side. “JAMES RIGGIN! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” Eric shouted as he started to march towards them.

Jamie suddenly grabbed Azazels arm, which startled him slightly. “Eric is with Spencer? This isn’t right, back to the woods,” he whispered. Azazel didn’t understand why Jamie was freaking out but took off into the woods to guide Jamie back to the campsite. 

“Jamie!” Eric called out as he watched them run away.

“So does crazy run in your family or something?” Spencer remarked. “I thought we were looking for one kid. Who’s the other?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen him before. Let’s go,” Eric ordered and headed to the woods. Spencer groaned as he locked his car.

The two of them stopped and hid behind some trees, panting as they tried to catch their breath. “Why… is Eric with… Him?!” Jamie spat out as he bent over and placed his hands on his knees. “Why is he working with him?”

“Who? Spencer?” Azazel whispered and leaned against a tree. He didn’t feel the same way that Jamie felt about Spencer, but he guessed that they had different experiences.

“Yes!” Jamie hissed, careful to keep his voice quiet. “The town psycho! Why would he…” He trailed off when he realized the only two possibilities. “Eric got replaced, just like Vanessa. Or that’s the real Eric and he’s actually working with Spencer fucking Middleton! And I don’t know which is worse!” Jamie yelled, his voice shaking as he started to tear up. 

Azazel clasped his hand over Jamie’s mouth and shushed him. “Dude, we can freak out later, but we need to go.” To make Azazel's point, they heard something moving through the woods. Something big. “We really need to go. Now.” As they took off running again they could hear trees snapping and the occasional yell of Eric calling out for Jamie.

They ran into the clearing and tumbled past the carvings. Jamie laid down on the grass and panted heavily, his lungs and legs screaming at it. Azazel sat next to him and looked around for anyone else. “What… The… Fuck...” Jamie swore as he looked up at the sky.

“I thought you wanted to find Eric,” Azazel pointed out. Jamie swallowed hard and glanced over at him. “Didn’t you know about Spencer?”

“What do you mean?” Jamie asked.

“Last time I was in town, I saw Eric.” Jamie nodded. “He was with Cyril, a really cool guy named Kieffer, a woman who I don’t know, and Spencer.” Jamie sat up and stared at Azazel. “I didn’t talk to Eric, but I talked to Spencer. Once he calmed down, he was pretty chill.”

“You _talked_ to Spencer? And he’s _chill_? No, he’s not chill! He’s a crazy person and he has something to do with Vanessa! Then why is Eric around him? What else isn’t he telling me,” Jamie hissed.

Eric and Spencer followed the trail of broken branches, trampled grass and the occasional shoe print in the dirt. Teenage boys weren’t the most careful when it came to hiding. They stopped and could hear hushed whispering. Eric wanted to call out but decided against it, Jamie was obviously spooked by something and he needed to tread carefully. 

“Let me handle this,” Eric hissed. Spencer couldn’t care less about who was handling this, he just wanted it to be over. “Hey Kiddo,” he said as he stepped into the clearing. The kids went quiet and stared at him, they were clearly too tired to run off again. Eric noticed the carvings on the ground and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. “What are you even doing here?”

“I don’t know anymore,” Jamie grumbled. Eric gave a small sigh, dealing with teenagers wasn’t easy. Spencer leaned against a tree and glared at the carvings on the ground, he quickly took a picture of them and sent it off in a text.

“Come on, I’m taking you home. You too. You kids shouldn’t be in these woods, let’s go.” The two kids frowned and didn’t move. “We don’t have all day to sit around. I’m sure your parents are worried about you. I’ll take you home, where do you live?”

Jamie grumbled underneath his breath about how stupid Eric was as Azazel shifted awkwardly. “I…” Azazel stuttered. He suddenly realized asking two adults who didn’t remember him to take him to Cyril was more nerve-racking than he originally thought. “Uh.”

As he waited, trying to be as patient as he could be, Eric recognized a gut wrenching stench. He and Spencer exchanged a glance and they both knew what it was. They didn’t have a lot of time and they needed to leave as soon as possible. “Come on, kid. Spit it out!” Eric barked to get them to listen.

“Jesus, Eric!” Jamie snapped, which surprised everyone. “Are you really that stupid? Just leave him alone!”

“Jamie, you don’t get to-”

“Don’t Jamie me! You kept me in the dark and I’m sick of it!”

“Hey!” Eric snapped back. Jamies lip quivered a bit as he stood his ground. “We need to leave. Now! We will talk about this later. Come on, you can tell me where your parents live on the way.”

Jamie groaned and pointed to the stone tent. “Don’t you get it?! He lives here! He’s a run away.” Eric went quiet and glanced at the other kid, who avoided eye contact. He even didn’t know what the hell he was going to do with Jamie, let alone some run away kid. “I mean, you already met him didn’t you?” That part confused both Eric and Spencer completely.

“Nice going, jackass,” Spencer remarked. “Enough bullshitting around, get your shit together and let’s fucking leave already!”

“... You guys really don’t remember me, huh,” Azazel mumbled then sighed. “Whatever.” Jamie and Azazel started to walk towards Eric, both pretty upset when they heard a large ‘thunk’ behind them. Everyone looked to see a large metal mallet now sticking in the ground, ruining one of the carvings. “Aw c’mon! It took me twenty minutes on each one of these sigils!”


	4. Eric Thinks He Almost Had A Heart Attack

Everyone looked at the enormous metal sledgehammer that ruined one of the sigils carved in the earth. Eric knew exactly what was coming and needed to get these kids out of here. While Spencer didn’t really care, but he didn’t want to deal with Eric complaining. They drew their guns as the juggernaut came into view. Jamie slowly backed up while Azazel stood there looking unimpressed and a little pissed off.

The juggernaut grabbed the handle of the sledgehammer and ripped it out of the ground. Jamie saw the way Azazel was staring down this disgusting thing and had a feeling that this wasn’t going to end well. “Why the fuck is a juggernaut here?!” Eric hissed.

“Fuck if I know,” Spencer shrugged. “Maybe if you ask nicely, he’ll tell you.”

“I’m not dealing with your bullshit right now. You two need to get out of here,” Eric ordered. Jamie nodded and grabbed Azazel by the back of his jacket and pulled him away. The juggernaut seemed to look past the adults and at the kids. Eric had a bad feeling that he wasn’t this things target.

Azazel wiggled free from Jamies’ grip and angrily huffed. “I’m not going to let some ugly guy just break into my campsite! I made that! And he thinks he can just make himself at home?! I’m not going to let him ruin it,” he snapped and headed back towards the clearing. 

“Dude! Get back here! What are you even doing?!” Jamie called out and ran after him. Azazel pushed past Spencer, much to his surprise, and picked up a rock. “Don’t you dare!” Jamie yelled. Eric's jaw dropped out of shock and alarm when he watched the kid throw the rock as hard as he could.

The rock landed between the juggernauts' eyes as the other three watched. Spencer held back a laugh as Eric stared at the kid in horror. Azazel yelled something in another language and started to charge towards the hulking figure. He was a lot shorter than Jamie, so it made it pretty easy for him to pick up and hold Azazel back.

With Jamie keeping him held back, the two of them ran off again. Azazel wasn’t happy about being carried away and eventually was set down, but Jamie wasn’t going to let him go until he knew they were safe.

Jamie skidded to a stop when he and Azazel ran through the last row of trees. He wanted to turn back and run, but he completely froze. Plus there was the fact that back in the woods there was that disgusting thing Eric called a juggernaut, and Spencer. Jamie couldn’t decide which was worse, the juggernaut, Spencer, or the beast that now stood on the road.

The beast stood on four legs and slightly towered over the trees, it glared down at the two boys with 3 pairs of glowing blue eyes. The skin on its wolf-like snout was rotted away, exposing the bone and rows of sharp teeth. The rest of it’s misshapen body was covered in long shaggy blood-stained fur. They didn’t know whose blood it was and didn’t want to know.

“That looks like a Dark Souls or Bloodborne boss,” Jamie managed to whisper.

“I don’t know what that is,” Azazel whispered back.

Behind them they heard gunfire, which was a grim reminder of why they were running in the first place. Eric stumbled out of the woods, “get to the car, now!” He looked at the kids, then looked at the beast. “What in the fuck… You two need to get in the car. Now.”

“That juggernaut isn’t going to be happy. You fucking owe me big time!” Spencer snapped when he left the woods. “Well, this is just great.”

The beast spoke in a deep, chilling voice. It set everyone on edge as it looked down at them. Jamie didn’t understand what the beast was saying, but he understood one word. “Why does it know your name?!” Jamie whispered-screamed at Azazel.

Azazel opened his mouth trying to figure out how to explain without sounding crazy, but was cut off when the juggernaut came crashing through the trees. Azazel pulled Jamie off to the side away from the other threat. It completely ignored Eric and was staring down the kids.

The juggernaut stood between the kids and adults, separating Eric from Jamie. Eric knew his Beretta doesn’t do much against juggernauts, and knew it wasn’t going to do shit about the towering beast-creature that was now prowling towards them. “Jamie, keep away from it!” He was trying his best to stay calm, but everything was going out of control.

“I think it’s time to go,” Spencer shrugged and headed to his car. Eric did a double take as Spencer walked off.

“I can’t just leave these kids here! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” 

“Have fun dealing with the juggernaut and whatever that is!” Spencer pointed to the beast. “I’ll tell everyone that you died a hero,” he waved with a smirk and got in his car.

Eric grumbled under his breath and took a shot at the juggernaut, hoping to at least distract it. The juggernaut paid no attention to the gunfire and swung the sledgehammer. Azazel pushed Jamie out of the way, causing him to fall back. The sledgehammer missed Jamie but hit Azazel across the face, sending him tumbling backwards.

Spencer sat in his car and groaned as he watched the others. “Stupid kid got himself killed and now I have to do all the work around here,” he grumbled as he got back out of his car. He dug around in the trunk of his mustang, occasionally looking up to see how Eric was handling things. It wasn’t going great.

“Holy shit,” Jamie whispered as he scrambled backwards. Eric added this to the growing list of things that’s traumatizing the poor kid as he ran to get Jamie out of there. The beast lunged forward and snatched the juggernaut up in its jaws. “Oh, what the fuck,” he said as the beast shook it like a rabid dog. The sledgehammer fell and landed alarmingly close to where Eric was standing. 

It threw the juggernaut over the trees and back into the woods, then stood over Azazel. The beast snarled at Eric as he got closer, he stopped and took a shot without thinking. The bullet merely bounced off the exposed bone of the snout. The beast gave a deep laugh that sent a shiver down everyone’s back as it took a step closer.

“I am advising you to stand down. I have clearance to eliminate anyone or anything that stands in my way,” it spoke. No one knew how to feel with the fact the beast can speak English. Spencer aimed his harpoon gun and fired, lodging the harpoon beneath one of the eyes. Eric didn't know why he had a harpoon gun, and didn’t really want to know. The beast roared, showing its many rows of teeth and it charged.

Jamie shook Azazel as the beast swiped at the others. “Please don’t be dead. That will be so fucked up,” he whispered. To his amazement and relief, Azazel groaned. “Thank god you’re not dead! Wait, how are you not dead?”

“Ow,” Azazel grumbled and quickly sat up. “Okay, I’m awake!” He grabbed his sunglasses and put them back on before he looked around. “I’ve always hated these guys. We need to leave.” Both Eric and Spencer were surprised to see the kid starting to stand up, but they didn’t have time to process that.

Spencer dodged a swipe from the beasts insanely long claws. One hit and he probably would have been gutted. “I am not in the fucking mood for this,” he grumbled.

“Oh really? Well I’m having a great time,” Eric sarcastically grumbled back. They continued to dodge and shoot when they could. With the harpoon and gunfire, they managed to damage a few of its six eyes. That's when A blast of fire suddenly roared past them and singed the beasts long fur. “Did you get Cyril here?”

“I sent him a text earlier but I don’t think that was him,” Spencer explained as he looked around. A pink scaled demon ran past them, hissing at the beast. “Yeah that’s not him. The horns and tail are close, but he’s purple and his hair is longer.” They squinted at the new demon and nodded, even with the armour they could see the main difference. “And that’s a girl.”

Jamie supported Azazel and looked around, trying to find some place to go. He didn’t want to leave Eric, but part of him feared that he was a replacement. “Hey. Where do you want to go?” Azazel asked as he watched the pink demon. “Listen, she’s here to help. She’s going to keep them safe. Just tell me where you want to go.”

“I just… I want to go home,” Jamie whispered. Azazel nodded and held his hand out in front of him. Jamie watched in confusion and then looked up at the beast. “Hey, you can see it’s heart. Gross.”

“Oh shit, yeah. That is gross. I might actually have an idea... Thanks for pointing that out,” Azazel mumbled. His outstretched hand had a faint red light glow around it, the light faded from red to white. Before them a white circle of light appeared. Arcane symbols danced around the circle as it grew in size. Jamie didn’t understand what was happening, but the light radiated a warmth that made him feel safe.

“Whoa... How did you do that?” he whispered. The light suddenly doubled in size, creating a clap of thunder that made everyone flinch. The beast whipped around and yelled something in another language, sounding very angry at this point. It turned back and hit everyone with a quick backhand. Eric had the wind knocked out of him, he gasped for air as he watched the beast turn to the kids.

“You have responsibilities, you can not run forever! ” it roared as it lunged towards them.

Both Eric and the pink demon scrambled to their feet and started towards the kids. Azazel frowned as he leaned against Jamie. “Oh, yes I can. Just watch me,” he grumbled. He stomped his foot, sending a large jagged rock towards the beast. Azazel grabbed Jamies hand and pulled him towards the light.

Eric reached out, trying to catch the kids. The last he saw of Jamie was him looking over his shoulder before disappearing into the light. “Where did they go?” he snapped and turned to the beast. He didn’t care that this thing was almost four stories tall and that it could easily crush him. All Eric could think about was protecting Jamie and nothing was going to stop him. “Where the fuck did they go?!”

The beast stumbled back and placed its claws over this chest where the rock pierced it. It gave a chilling laugh that put Spencers evil cackle to shame. “That boy is getting involved with many matters that no human should.” Eric clenched his fists and continued to glare at the beast. “And you, have fun living in exile.”

It continued to laugh as it disappeared into a dark mist, it’s eyes glowed in the darkness for a few seconds before fading away. Eric shifted slightly, thinking over the cryptic warning it gave. He looked over at the pink scaled demon a few feet away from him, and she looked back down at him. Eric wasn’t sure how to feel about a nine foot tall demon looking down at him with such distaste.

She had an intensity in her eyes that made him uneasy. The fact she fought with him rather than against him made him feel a little better. “Hey… Thanks,” Eric said, wanting to stay on her good side. She curled her lip up and let out a deep growl before promptly taking off into the woods, leaving Eric and Spencer alone. “What are you doing?”

Spencer looked up from where he was crouched down over the puddle of blood. “Check this shit out, that goth kids blood? It glows. I think your kid might be running around with a demon or something. That’s fucking hilarious.”

All of this was too much for Eric to handle and he got in the car to sit down. Part of him thought that he was going to have a heart attack from all this stress. A smaller part of him hoped a heart attack would kill him so he wouldn’t have to deal with all this.

\-----

The two kids tumbled into the living room and fell to the floor. Azazel gave a small cheer and babbled about how it was his best portal yet, while Jamie looked around wildly. None of this made any sense to him. “How…” Jamie started to question when he felt extremely nauseous. He stumbled as fast as he could to the nearest sink as his head pounded. 

“...Hey are you okay?” Azazel asked as he watched Jamie dry heaved over the kitchen sink. “Should I get you anything? Oh, wait, I know what it is. First time using a portal? Yeah it can be a little rough, and I did take us, like, across town.”

Jamie spun around and leaned back against the counter. “What… What the fuck was that?” he mumbled. “We were by the woods, now we’re back in my house. My stomach is so upset and I have the worst headache… Hold on, before we talk.” Jamie went over to the radio and started blaring music. “Okay no one can listen in now… You can fucking earthbend?”

“Actually I can control most elemental magicks! There’s still a bit I’m working on-”

“So you’re the avatar?!” Jamie almost yelled. Azazel shrugged, not knowing what that meant. “There’s so much I need to show you, Christ. There’s people who can control the elements, it’s called bending. And there’s one guy who can control all four who’s called the avatar.”

Azazel nodded along seeming interested but still a little confused. As Jamie explained the show and took some painkillers, Azazel changed the music to heavy metal. “Yeah, I guess I’m like that. That’s pretty cool!”

“Anyways, how can you do that? Where exactly are you from?” Jamie questioned. He went to get his phone but couldn’t find it. “Oh shit. I must have dropped my phone. This is so much to unpack! You’re the avatar with some crazy monster after you, Eric is working with Spencer, I lost my phone so now I can’t even call Eric to try and do anything about that psycho!”

He paced around the room and massaged his temples, trying to block out the music. Azazel shuffled slightly before he blurted out, “I’m not human! I’m from Hell, the Speaker of Lucifer was there to take me home.” Jamie stared at him. “But I’m not the only one who has a monster after me, that thing with the hammer was after you. We both are being hunted down... And I have a phone, I got it from Spencer. I originally took it to take a picture but I forgot to put it back.”

“You’re a demon? That makes so much sense actually. I thought you were some weird homeschooled kid,” he laughed and took the phone. “Once he figures out his phone is missing, we’re so dead… Wow he has almost no contacts, Eric is in here though. And one under the name ‘Babe’. What girl would be crazy enough to date him?”

They laughed at that as they went through his phone. Jamie quickly came to the conclusion that Spencer wasn’t great with technology. The phone wasn’t locked and there wasn’t anything set up in the wallet app, so they still had no money. But they had a way to contact people if needed.

After a bit, Jamie looked back at Azazel and noticed he had a cut on his forehead that was still bleeding. “Oh shit, sit down. I’m going to grab the first aid kit.” Azazel sat down and watched as Jamie quickly walked off. He came back with a small bag and dug through it for any bandages. “I guess I should thank you for, you know, saving me from that. I don’t think I would have survived being hit like that… Wow, that’s actually terrifying to think about.”

“Death is terrifying to think about,” Azazel agreed. He took off his sunglasses and held his hair back for Jamie to take a look at the cut. Jamie froze when he looked at the red goat-like eyes. “What? James? Everything okay?”

“Y-Yeah, it’s just you have the coolest eyes,” Jamie explained. Azazel flushed a deep red and glanced away. His face had a slight red glow to it, which Jamie thought was pretty cool. “And it’s Jamie. That’s what my friends and family call me,” he mumbled as he worked on fixing the other up. “It’s so cool that your eyes and blood glow.”

Azazel hummed quietly as he fidgeted in his spot. “I try not to think about that. And we’re friends?” he asked with a small smile.

“Dude, you just saved my life. And before that you watched me have a mini freak out and didn’t laugh or anything. Of course we’re friends! And sit still while I try to fix you up.” Azazel beamed while Jamie put the finishing touches on the bandages. “There. That should be good.”

“Thanks!” Azazel exclaimed as he jumped back up. He ran off to find the nearest mirror to look at the bandages. Jamie laughed softly as he watched him run off. While Azazel looked in the mirror, Jamie peeked through the blinds and watched the street for a bit. A black van drove by, but other than that it was quiet. “So, what do we do now?” Azazel asked as he flopped down on the couch.

Jamie sat down and thought about it. “I’m honestly not sure. I came back to town to find Eric. I guess we did find him, but it doesn’t feel right. We can continue to look for Cyril- Wait, is he a demon too?” he asked. Azazel nodded with a small shrug. “Alright, cool. Maybe he might know something about Eric and Spencer working together.”

“Yeah maybe! Him and Spencer seem to be good friends, so he might. Plus I hope he knows how to get that Speaker off my back. That’s going to be annoying if they’re around… Aw man, poor CamCam… She fought against that Speaker, she’s not going to be welcomed back home,” Azazel groaned and slouched in his seat.

There were a few things Azazel talked about that made sense to Jamie. And a lot that made no sense whatsoever. He was guessing this ‘Speaker’ was the huge beast that spoke to them, which was still awful to think about. And that ‘CamCam’ was the tall pink demon who tried to defend them. What didn’t make sense was that Cyril would be good friends with Spencer.

“I have… so many questions,” Jamie started. Azazel glanced over and raised an eyebrow. “Like, Hell is real? So there’s a Heaven? You mentioned a mom and dad before, you have a family? A demon family? Why do you look human, well other than the eyes, while the others didn’t?”

As Jamie continued to ask questions right after another, Azazel took a deep breath and slapped his hand on the others knee. It startled him slightly and snapped him out of asking so many questions at once. “I’ll answer your questions, if you answer some of mine. But later, is that cool?”

Jamie nodded and relaxed. They sat beside each other quietly and listened to the music. Both of them were pretty tired from today, and both of them had more questions than answers. Overall, they were both glad that they had someone there to experience the insanity of whatever was happening in town with.


End file.
